5.07.2014

Man shot to death after getting out on the wrong floor

26-year-old Stephen Guillermo mistakenly went to the wrong apartment unit

Tragic news out of San Francisco, where a man was shot to death by a fellow tenant late Saturday night when he went to a unit on the wrong floor of his apartment building after returning home from a night out.

26-year-old Stephen Guillermo, who lived on the fifth floor, mistakenly pressed the wrong button on the elevator, got out on the third floor, and went to the wrong unit. He was shot and killed by the unit's tenant, 68-year-old Amisi Sudi Kachepa, when he entered the apartment.

Stephen Guillermo had been out drinking with friends, his family said, and apparently pressed the wrong floor number on the elevator of the building in the 900 block of Mission Street in the South of Market area. He got off on the third floor instead of the fifth floor, where he lived with his brother and sister, and went to the unit in the same location in the building as his home two stories above.

Guillermo was shot at 1:40 a.m. inside the third floor unit of a 68-year-old man, Amisi Sudi Kachepa, who later surrendered to police and was arrested in the shooting.

Kachepa reportedly told people in the building that he blamed Guillermo for breaking the knob on the door of his unit. The knob on the door was missing Saturday.

Stephen Guillermo happened to be the cousin of journalist Emil Guillermo, who says that while Stephen was drunk, and made a "fatal error" that night, he didn't deserve to die. "There's no crime being drunk if you're responsible enough to not drive, and sober enough to text home."

But it looks as though the shooter will not be charged. He was released from jail without charges Tuesday evening pending further investigation, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

Meanwhile, loved ones have set up an online fundraiser to help Stephen Guillermo's family pay for a memorial service. To contribute to Stephen's memorial fund, go to EverRibbon.